A BRIDE-to-be stole over £500,000 from work to fund a secret gambling habit - so she could play the "perfect middle-class wife" to her unwitting fiance.

Charlotte Darwen, 26, appeared to have it all with her two young children, a forthcoming wedding, luxury holidays, new car, deposit on a house, jewellery, designer clothes and regular seats at star-studded charity balls and sporting events.

She was due to marry her childhood sweetheart, had also lost around three stone at slimming classes and was eagerly counting down the days to her lavish civic ceremony she had booked at a Tudor country mansion.

But, unknown to the groom-to-be, family and friends, Darwen was propping up her fairytale life of luxury by secretly gambling on a range of high stakes online betting games - and stealing money from her employers to fund it.

Despite earning just £15,000 a year as an accounts assistant at a motor accident claims firm, more than £800,000 had been paid as income into her personal bank account over a three year period.

She won around £300,000 from her betting sprees but frittered away much of her winnings on luxuries including a trip to Wembley, sports dinners, and concerts she where got herself pictured with cyclist Sir Bradley Wiggins and singer Ronan Keating.

She also spent £5,000 on cosmetic surgery, £10,000 towards a car and a £48,000 deposit on a house.

By the time her fraud was uncovered Darwen, of Leigh, Greater Manchester, had blown £419,000 on her gambling sprees alone.

The stolen money was the equivalent of 12 workers wages at family-run Action 365 Ltd based at Stockport, Greater Manchester.

The company had to lay off several staff and now has almost half the workforce it used to have.

Meanwhile pictures on Darwen's Facebook page showed enjoying a string of luxury holidays in Majorca, Flordia and and several luxury cruises.

At Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, Darwen burst into tears after she was jailed for three years having admitted fraud by abuse of position.

Her wedding to fiance Harrison James, also 26, whom she has been with since they were 19, has been cancelled but the couple are still together.

Passing sentence Judge Maurice Greene told Darwen: "You got involved in a spiral of gambling, stealing money then using it and getting into more debt. Both you and this company has suffered as a result.

"What you did has had an almost devastating effect on this company, members of the company, staff - people who trusted you."

Darwen had got a job in 2007 as assistant to Acton 365's finance director Eleanor Lumsden and would process bills.

But in 2011 she began transferring money into her own bank account by creating false invoices and credit notes and paying herself by BACs.

The frauds came to light in December 2013 during a company audit. Miss Kim Irvine, prosecuting, said 352 payments had been made into Darwen's bank account and she was asked to explain herself.

In a statement Mrs Lumsden said the thefts had left her "absolutely devastated".

She added: "Miss Darwen was someone I trusted and she had abused her position. The total loss of money was a testament to how devious she has been".

The court heard how the company could not keep staff in work and had to make a large number of redundancies.

Darwen's counsel Edmund Haygarth said: "This is one of these cases where someone is relieved that they were caught and rather regret they hadn't been caught earlier.

"She was trusted by people she regarded as friends and quickly regretted what she did.

"Her relationship with her long-standing boyfriend had its ups and downs and they were due to be married last month. The wedding was called off but they are now back together."